TAXES on CDs and other sound recordings in Jamaica ranked fifth highest in the region, according to International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) statistics, which at least one stakeholder said contributed to the silencing of local music.

Jamaica, compared with 12 regional territories, was higher than seven, including the USA, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela, according to the IFPI in its tax statistics updated in May. Jamaica’s tax on recording is 16.5 per cent, and countries with higher taxes included Argentina at 21 per cent, Brazil, between 15 to 18 per cent, Chile at 19 per cent and Peru at 19 per cent. The countries with the lowest taxes included the US, with a range between zero to 10.25 per cent and Canada at 5.0 per cent. The IFPI represents the recording industry worldwide with some 1400 members in 66 countries and affiliated industry associations in 45 countries.

The elimination of general Consumption Tax (GCT) in Jamaica on music and related services would be a fillip for the ailing music industry, argued veteran singer and record producer Derrick Harriott.

“To boost the music business, I think they should eliminate completely the GCT or make it very small, to affect people,” stated Harriott, who is also principal of Derrick Harriott’s One Stop Records & Video, a fixture at the Twin Gates Plaza in St Andrew since 1973. “In all it would work out better cause they would buy more quantity.”

The Observer yesterday tried unsuccessfully to get a comment from the Ministry of Culture.

Music stores have been hurt by piracy as illegal CDs sell for $100 whilst legal products are 20 times that price. But it isn’t only CDs or DVDs which attract GCT, and other entertainment services are also hurting. Specifically, GCT data for 2009 indicates that there was an overall decline of 7.9 per cent in the gross sales of entertainment categories monitored by the Planning Institute of Jamaica. Major categories which showed declines in GCT collections included recording studios, down 37 per cent; theatre producers and entertainment services, down 30.7 per cent; and video productions, down 21.9 per cent, according to PIOJ-compiled data in its annual Economic and Social Survey 2009.

“Jamaicans love music; that is what keeps us going. It is like a medicine,” Harriott said. “But some days I don’t even sell one item.”

In May, Harriott told the Observer that his sales were down by some 90 per cent year-on-year, which forced him to consider restructuring his business. Asked if he would establish an online store, he argued there would always be a market for CDs. People love to “feel” music, he reasoned.

In May, Mobile Music was the latest record store to exit a once-buoyant market. There are currently only four listings under music dealers (including Mobile Music) in the yellow pages of the latest phone book. Widening access to broadband Internet is enabling more persons to freely and illegally download music, movies and other copyright-protected digital content, which are often burnt onto CDs and DVDs and sold as bootlegs. The upshot being that legitimate businesses that once thrived on the sale of these products are now unable to compete on pricing and are being forced to shut their doors. Record Plaza, CD Outlet and Viewers Choice are among the popular stores that have closed in recent years.